Incorporating the Harvest into the Menu

We love real food at our house.  Real food meaning food that we grew - healthy food that we know what is in it.  One of the things we like to do is search for different recipes to incorporate the item currently being harvested into the menu rotation.  Due to the amount of food we grow for personal consumption, it would get very boring if we cooked everything the same way all the time.  We'd probably have a mutiny on our hands, too.  We like to try new things with new spices and bold flavors.  Some recipes are hits and go into the meal rotation.  Some are not and don't.  Trial and error.  You know how it goes.

Currently we have a lot of sweet potatoes and a lot of kale.  Both are tasty and very nutritious.  I ran across a recipe on the Internet from Foodandwine.com that reminded me of something that we ate 22 years ago on our honeymoon.  We went to Virgin Gorda.  It is one of the British Virgin Islands and a beautiful place to be sure. 

The dish we were going to try is called Island Kale and Sweet Potato Soup.  It is inspired by Caribbean cuisine and is a hearty, tropical, coconut milk spiked soup.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, sliced thin
3/4 pound kale, stems removed
1 1/2 pounds sweet potato, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch cubes
1 1/2 quarts chicken broth
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
Rice

So first, Tricia went out to the garden with her produce bucket and picked a bucket-full of fresh kale.  This is a very healthy plant that grows throughout the winter and well into the summer, providing lots and lots of meals.


Harvesting Kale

Next, she got out the kitchen scale and weighed out 3/4 pounds kale.  

Kale on the Scale

Now she grabs some of our just-cured sweet potatoes from the bin and weighs out 1 1/2 pounds.


Weighing the sweet potatoes

Now, we remove the stems from the kale leaves.


Removing the stems from the kale

Tricia uses some chicken necks we've been saving to make a quart and a half of chicken broth.  

Broth is beautiful and healthy too!

Now she chops up an onion, 2 cloves of garlic, and a jalapeno pepper.


On the chopping block

 We add the chopped veggies into the dutch oven along with the butter and saute.


Smelling good!

Next, she stirs in the kale, chopped sweet potatoes, broth and salt and brings it to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, partially covered until the sweet potatoes are tender.  Now add the can of coconut milk and heat until all warm. 


Healthy soup

Add a big spoonful of rice to a bowl and ladle the soup over it and enjoy.  This was like an island gumbo, sort of, definitely different from anything we've tried.  We thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Sweet, spicy, hearty island soup.

We've got lots of kale and lots of sweet potatoes and a cold, wet winter ahead of us.  This dish is sure to reappear on our table in the upcoming months.